Cuentos de Colombia

Silencing, speech & being-in-the-world: deliberate violence and the un-sharability of suffering

Amongst teaching and marking, getting ready for LASA in a fortnight’s time, and working on the early days of what I think is going to be a really exciting project on youth and peace, I’ve been reading and watching various things which seem to have converged in my thinking. Perhaps, too, I’m in a reflective mood as I wait for the formal conferral of my doctorate and move forward with plans and proposals for jobs and research. This post then is an unapologetic meander through thoughts specifically around silencing, voice and speech, and violence and power that break relations and close off individuals from the world. It echoes early work in my phd, and it continues to sit below the surface (or more visibly on the surface in some cases) of much that I am preoccupied with academically and more broadly.

———- +++ ———

…the ontological metaphors that surface in situations of radical victimage tend to express loss or limitation in one’s freedom of movement (being bound, cornered, trapped, cut off, imprisoned, petrified, paralysed, exposed, alone, stuck, crushed, oppressed, undermined, thrown) or severe restrictions on one’s freedom of speech (being gagged, silenced, stifled, speechless, dumstruck, unheeded) (Jackson, 2006: 43).

When starting my phd I planned to write and research young people’s lives by paying attention to the structures and systems that silence young people, as well as finding their voices through attention to narrative practice. What does it mean to be silenced? How can you locate and legitimize the voices of those marginalized without presuming to speak for them (and fall in the same trap you are trying to avoid)? How can a focus on narratives, on speaking, on storytelling and lived experience counter structural marginalization and silencing?

Apologies for absence, & a blog on representations of children in videogames

So it is May, and there has been somewhat of an unintentional hiatus of blogging here. I have still been linking things relating to Colombia, young people, IDPs, refugees and Australian politics on my twitter.

During my blog-absence I have been busy; most notably in attending the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA) in San Francisco in April, where I presented two papers that stemmed from my thesis—one on young people, fraught spaces and negotiating everyday place-making amidst violence, and one thinking through some early ideas stemming out of work I couldn’t pursue within my dissertation on social exclusion and the ways IDPs contest new ways of belonging in urban spaces. Both are the journal-article-making process, so I will link them when at some future point they are published

I’m also part-way through writing some thoughts on the panels I attended at ISA, particularly in the Peace Studies Section stream around contestation of terms such as ‘hybridity’, and what I see as an emergence of attention to methodologies that focus in new ways on what it means to talk about ‘the everyday’. So hopefully I will post that soon also.

For now I want to draw your attention to a blog I wrote in response to thoughts I had while playing a recently released videogame Ni No Kuni, which I felt had some really positive and really problematic things to say about children and childhood.

It’s wildly apparent I cannot shut off my academic-brain, even when playing videogames. However, I also think that discussing how children are represented in particular videogames not only contributes to an important discussion in critical studies of videogames themselves, but provides a lens to think about how we talk about children and childhood more broadly. My partner, Brendan Keogh, who studies videogame criticism academically, kindly let me post these thoughts on his blog, Critical Damage.

Childhood in Ni No Kuni is a contradiction. On one hand, 13-year-old Oliver is a complex, compelling protagonist with real depth and nuance, a noble child-hero. On the other hand, other representations of children in the game are so fraught with stereotypes and problematic encounters that I’m left wondering if their presence contributes anything to the game at all or if it ultimately harms it. The notion of childhood in Ni No Kuni is unsettled, and it unsettles me.

You can read the whole thing here: Unsettled Childhood of Ni No Kuni

I’m genuinely hoping to be around on the blog more again now (particularly as I’m about to finish the final minor stage of my PhD and that should be done and dusted in the next week or so!)

As always, love to hear your thoughts, or find me on twitter to share links or ideas!

Helen

Amid Syria’s conflict children draw images of violence, their everyday lives

“We were all scared. Because of the shelling, we
were hiding in the bathroom and the kitchen. The
shelling happened every day for a while… Every day,
in the evening.

“This is what I remember of Syria. No, nothing good,
no good memories. I remember how my uncle and
my grandmother died, because I saw it… What do I
remember of Syria? Blood. This is it.”
(Noor, 8)

The 2 million children caught in Syria’s conflict face death, trauma, disease, and an absence of basic needs to survive. Of the more than 1 million refugees (a landmark that was unfortunately achieved last week) who have fled to neighbouring countries over half are children. 5,000 more arrive each day.

In Syria itself those who remain, or cannot flee, face the constant fear of shelling, gunfire, and insufficient food. Parents say that their children display signs of constant fear, including instinctive terror at loud noises. Children themselves draw images of violence, blood, guns and death.

These are just some of the findings of a new report by Save the Children, “Childhood Under Fire” [pdf], into the effects of the ongoing conflict on children. Using children’s own accounts, as well as those of parents and statistical data gathered to the best of the researchers’ ability in the situation, the report paints an appalling and horrendous picture of life for Syria’s children, their families and friends.

The deliberate targeting of hospitals and schools, as well as attacks on civilians are violations of international law. While the international community pledged $1.5bn at a conference in January, this funding is not being honoured, with UN statistics indicating only 20% has been cashed.

For those children and their families caught in the middle of the conflict this is not good enough.

—-

International Women’s Day: We’ve come a long way, we’ve got a long way to go

Yesterday was International Women’s Day. For decades March the 8th has been marked by recognising women’s contributions to human rights, peacebuilding, and equality and justice.

Around the world women work tirelessly work daily for improved quality of life, for respect for human rights and for the end of conflicts and violence. At an event in New York at the UN Headquarters yesterday Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet recognised this work that women do, and argued that we must continue to move forward in this struggle. She said

“There can be no peace, no progress, no equality without women’s full and equal rights and participation. And there can be no gender equality without women’s realization. Women’s realization of their full reproductive rights, their right to sexual and reproductive health, are essential to the empowerment of women and to gender equality.”

Across Latin America challenges to women’s equality, rights and dignity arise on a daily, or even hourly basis. Women are sexually assaulted and experience domestic abuse at alarming rates, gendered pay gaps remain, women are more likely to work in the informal sector than men—in part so they can continue to care for children, and more. For young women and girls the problems are similar and no less acute. Young women and girls also face sexual and domestic violence at unacceptable rates in many places, teen pregnancy presents both a health risk to young women and forecloses opportunities, and in some places access to education is difficult or impossible.

Gender based violence (GBV) or Violence Against Women (VAW) remains a significant obstacle. The Pan American Health Organisation recently released a report on a comparative analysis of data from 12 Latin American countries: “Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean”[pdf] which highlights the widespread problem of violence and argues that it can be addressed, btu it requires women’s input as well as societal changes to allow women to exercise their civil rights, implement comprehensive approaches across institutions and involve men and boys in efforts to promote nonviolence and gender equality.

In Colombia women and girls also suffer violence, exclusion and denial of rights. These include domestic and sexual abuse, the staggeringly high rate of teenage pregnancy(which Plan International links to a culture of machismo), but also are reflected in the poor representation of women in formal politics, and women’s absence from the peace talks underway in Havana. Virginia Bouvier, in a post for International Women’s Day, includes a clear and concise summary of how Colombia has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to promote and protect women’s rights, but notes that it continues to fail in basic ways in addressing these underlying structures of inequality and exclusion.

Women and girls are powerful forces for change, with crucial insights to building a better world not only for women but for men and boys as well. Across the world people paused on Friday to recognise and salute women and girls who have fought for equality and dignity. However, this work does not end with sunset on International Women’s Day. Rather it is work that must carry on, which will carry on, and which should be recognised and supported in every way possible.

Michelle Bachelet ended her talk for International Women’s Day with the following:

Today and every day we say NO to discrimination and violence against women and girls.

NO to domestic violence and abuse.

NO to rape and sexual violence.

NO to human trafficking and sexual slavery.

NO to female genital mutilation.

NO to child brides and child marriage.

NO to murders committed in the name of honour or passion.

NO to femicide.

NO to impunity.

And we say YES to peace, human rights, justice and equality.

For the sake of all women and girls.

—

Elsewhere:

Global Voices has done an interesting round-up of coverage and blogs for IWD in Colombia

“Colombia’s ‘women warriors’ break tradition, confront violence” - Colombia Reports, on a documentary about the struggle of indigenous women in Colombia.

Links I’ve Read Lately: Red Cross Visit, Violence Against Women, Peace and the Displaced

Quick links on a few Colombia-related things I’ve read and saved recently:

1. The President of the ICRC visited Colombia. A week or so ago now the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer visted Colombia where he met with President Santos and other Ministers as well as traveling to Putumayo.

[Photo of Peter Maurer returning from Putumayo jungle, tweeted by the ICRC account]

While being pleased that the ICRC was able to work in Colombia successfully, and provide much needed assistance, as well as praising local workers for the ICRC, he noted:

“I was concerned to see that, away from wealthy cities, there is another Colombia where people are cut off from such basic necessities as clean water, health care and education,” said Mr Maurer. “They also lack economic opportunity. I was deeply moved by the stories of displaced families who have been suffering from years of violence in this secluded part of the country.”

[ICRC press release in English] [CICR press release in Spanish]

2. [trigger warning] An article in El Espectador [spanish] telling three women’s stories of violence inflicted upon them by armed actors: “Bodies Marked by War”

A quick translation of the rationale behind the stories told by the women in the article:

…there are thousands of women in wars like Colombia’s who have experienced the same thing and they have not said anything for fear or shame. The figures are incomplete or inaccurate. But the stories of those who’ve spoken, show the marks on her body, so that the State provides key attention to this, so it does not continue to be marginalised in politics.

It is difficult reading, but powerful that these women have spoken up, and important to hear what they are saying and consider what it means for the collective awareness of all Colombians (and beyond).

3. Finally, a guest post at Americas Quarterly by Stephanie Leutert, a research associate at the Latin American Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations in the US on the peace talks with a focus on the consequences for displaced people.

She argues that peace agreement would be an important first step, that many of the processes are in place or could be engaged without difficulty. While she astutely notes it wouldn’t be the ultimate solution for displaced Colombians it would be a “step in the right direction”

I’ve also been reading many things around the recent murder and dismemberment of two 11 year old boys in Medellin, which has shocked and saddened me. I’ll try and compile things I’ve been reading on that soon. For now, it continues to deeply sadden me that young people bear the cost of violence in this way.

Tensions & Contradictions at Peace Talks

The news from Colombia’s peace talks at the end of last week and over the weekend has been mixed, with President Santos saying he is willing to walk away from the table if need be, while the Farc, in a letter published on Friday asked Santos to help ‘save’ the talks.

Santos was quick to respond saying that ‘peace is saved with concrete agreements, and not with letters and pronouncements’.

News sites seem to be covering the exchange in two contrasting ways; one emphasising Santos’ resolute statement and one playing up the Farc’s request to ‘save’ the talks. In many ways the contradiction in the coverage is a. to be expected and b. indicative of the complex and tenuous relationships and negotiations taking place.

[screen shot from google news search indicative of the contrasting coverage of the talks]

The Farc, today, have apparently attacked Colombia’s largest coal mine in the north of the country. Equally, the government has said it won’t hold back militarily in its dealings with the Farc despite the peace talks.

Both the Farc and the government have indicated their commitment to the talks and say that things are moving forward in Havana. The difficulty is, of course, that the violence that continues back in Colombia continues to erode support for the talks. Such difficulty is not unique to Colombia’s peace process, but is an issue that most peace negotiations have to deal with.

It would be irresponsible and foolish to write off the talks before a resolution (whatever that might be, but let us hope it is positive!) is in hand. Contradictions, tensions and disagreements will be a part of the talks for as long as they are ongoing. The question is whether both sides can reassure the Colombian people that they are in earnest and they both actually have the interests of the civilian population (that has borne the brunt of the conflict) truly at heart.

Follow-Up to Yesterday’s Post on Seeking Asylum

Yesterday I posted a brief discussion of the release of drawings done by children held by the Australian government in mandatory detention facilities on Manus Island in PNG.

While I wanted to do a link-around today to some other things I’ve been reading (particularly some interesting stuff on Colombia and LatAm), I’ve not got it together yet, so instead I just want to link two articles that have come out since my post.

The first is from The Guardian. Not only does it have a good brief summary of the history of the asylum seeker debacle that Australian politics has become, but it points out the dangers of Australia meddling in the politics of another country (in this case Sri Lanka, where many boat arrivals come from). Stewart Motha observes:

“It’s one thing for Australia to throw the refugee convention out the window, and another to weigh in on issues such as reconciliation and militarisation in another country. If they want to do the former they should do it honestly; the latter is gratuitous, unnecessary and harmful.”

The other was news I woke up to this morning which is that the Australian government is looking into purchasing a $2bn drone to track asylum seeker boats off the coast of Australia. Now, I want to quickly put aside an argument about how this is more efficient, uses less people-power, is more accurate, because that continues to buy into the rhetoric and belief that the best way to deal with the situation is to continue to enforce punative measures on innocent people and to find technologically enhanced ways of doing this. Such arguments are patently false. For one thing, it is not illegal to seek asylum.

For another, could we not, as a country, better spend this money? Whether on aid that goes overseas to assist and improve countries that are prompting people to leave and seek asylum, on services that improve communities as a whole (including, ideally, asylum seekers who could be placed in communities rather than held in maximum security facilities), or on any number of other projects?

I’m not naive. I know it is not ‘as simple’ as any of this. But how is thisthe debate we are having, and how did we let the terms of the debate come to this?

Seeking Asylum, Children’s Drawings and Australia’s Collective Shame

The Australian parliament has been playing race-to-the-bottom politics with asylum seekers’ lives for over a decade. Fear politics and pandering to the worst of people’s nature have meant policies and processes that not only do not have the best interests of those seeking asylum at heart but are illegal as they contravene international conventions Australia is a signatory of.

This display of callousness and demonisation has culminated Australia excising islands from its territory (meaning when the Australian government intercepts a boat arriving from Indonesia it can take it to Christmas Island for example and not ‘officially’ or ‘legally’ be on Australian soil). Additionally Australia is now attempting to forge various short sighted ‘regional solutions’ which see neighbours like PNG establish detention centres for asylum seekers and the ability to remove individuals from Australia and move them there instead. The recently established Manus Island detention centre on PNG is one such; currently lacking basic amenities, detainees live in tents amidst appalling conditions, as recent photos smuggled from the centre attest.

Mujeres en el proceso de paz - Women in the peace process

Razon Publica has a short video of Angela Ceron Lasprilla, the Director of Alianza Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la Paz speaking of the urgent need to include women as participants in the discussion of building peace.

[video link also here]

Again, as has been noted by many people since the peace talks were announced (here, here, here, and here (last one mine!) for just a few examples), women have been and continue to be profoundly affected by the conflict and their inclusion is vital for the construction of peace.

Angela Ceron Lasprilla makes the very important point that women should be “made visible not only due to the effects of conflict, as victims, but also to be seen as protagonists in the process of constructing peace”

Timeline of Colombia’s Conflict (link to blog)

Wanted to draw your attention to Adam Isacson’s blog where he is maintaining an updated timeline of events and occurances related to Colombia’s peace talks.

What is really valuable about Adam’s timeline is not only is it a good quick-reference point to clarify a date or event, but it is full of links to original documents or news articles on the event.

Adam is a senior associate for regional security at WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America) (also on twitter @adam_wola) and his blog in general is always an interesting read!

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